Tesla Model 3 among UK Top 10 best-sellers

April 10, 2021April 10, 2021 John Carey 1548 Views

Sick of reading about Norway and the amazing number of EVs sold there? Okay, so let’s look at someplace else instead…

The car sales data for March in the UK is in… and there’s an EV in the Top 10. It’s the Tesla Model 3, which sits in fourth place thanks to a very big spike in sales. This is believed to be the highest placing ever for an EV.

Some 6585 Model 3s were sold during the month. This is a higher number than familiar mainstream machinery like the VW Golf and Toyota Yaris. Only a bunch of small cars, the Vauxhall Corsa, Ford Fiesta and Mercedes-Benz A-Class, were more popular with Brit buyers.

Tesla’s success comes against a background of booming EV sales in the UK. So far this year they’re up 74 percent compared to 2020, meaning that EVs now have a 7.5 percent share of the overall passenger car market.

And this share amounts to 32,000 EVs sold so far this year. The population of the UK is a little more than two-and-a-half times that of Australia. If EVs sold as strongly here as there, EV sales in Australia would total around 12,000 year to date.

This isn’t the case. EV sales in Australia so far this total a little under 1000. Still, this this paltry number is an increase of more than 100 percent over 2020.

It’s a massive discrepancy, but what is the reason for it?

The political philosophy of the leadership in both countries is broadly similar, after all. The Brits have a dishevelled conservative boofhead at the top, while we have a PM who at least knows how to comb what’s left of his hair.

Where the difference lies is in policy. Brits who choose to buy an EV have a maximum of about $4500 knocked off the price, so long as the vehicle doesn’t cost more than the equivalent of $62,500.

This so-called plug-in grant is paid direct to the dealer who sells the car. The buyer doesn’t have to do anything… except decide to buy an EV. And they do, in increasing numbers.

Here there’s no enticement for a new car buyer to pick an EV instead of an ICE-powered vehicle. So only one-twelfth as many Aussies as Brits, per capita, decide to make the switch to electric. It’s that simple…

John Carey

Grew up in country NSW, way back when petrol was laced with lead. Has written about cars and the car business for more than 35 years, working full-time and freelance for leading mags, major newspapers and websites in Australia and (sometimes) overseas. Avidly interested in core EV technologies like motors and batteries, and believes the switch to electromobility definitely should be encouraged. Is waiting patiently for someone to make a good and affordable EV that will fit inside his tiny underground garage in northern Italy, where he's lived for the past decade. Likes the BMW i3, but it's just too damned wide...